Morphological characters the pollen grains of Apricot plant Prunus armeniaca L. and Plum Prunus domestica L. cultivated in northern Iraq

Abstract

The Present study aims to study the morphological characters of the pollen grains for six Apricot cultivars Prunus armeniaca L. and six cultivars of Plum P. domestica L. planted in northern Iraq.Using the Light Microscope and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). It was found that the pollen grains in all the cultivars were, isopolar tricorporate, and with one-, two-, and four-holes models were found, and their shape in the polar view was either tetra angular, spherical- triangular, or triangular, While in the equatorial view, the pollen shapes were ovoid, spherical or semi-spherical .The surface ornamentation was in several forms, including reticulate, granular, thin longitudinal striped, short transverse striped, granular and striped grains and striped.The quantitative and qualitative morphological characteristics of pollen grains showed a high taxonomic value in separating and isolating the cultivars of the two studied species.